The Trouble With Angels Page 0,57

she was home. When she was calm and in control of her emotions, then and only then would she talk to the man who didn't seem to know his own mind.

Eventually he left, but Joy knew she hadn't fooled him. He'd been as aware of her on the other side of the door as she was of him.

Her reprieve didn't last long. The following morning when she arrived at the office, a dozen red roses awaited her. The card read simply "Ted." She kept them on the corner of her desk for the first hour, then decided she couldn't look at them and not think of him. Of course, she couldn't look at her pencil holder and not think of Ted, but that was beside the point.

She would have liked to make an excuse and disappear for the afternoon, but that was the coward's way out. The sooner she told him what had to be said, the better.

Joy was in the business office when he arrived. Through the plate-glass window, she saw him walk into the foyer. It would only be a matter of minutes before he tracked her down. Instead she followed him.

"Hello," she said evenly, in the long hallway leading to her office. "Were you looking for me?"

Ted whirled around, and it looked as if he were hard-pressed not to reach for her right then and there. Not that she would have allowed it. Not this time.

"I see you got my flowers," he said. He moved into her office and sat down as if this were his second home. For her part, Joy preferred to stand.

"I thought they looked very nice in the welcoming area," she said. "They weren't necessary."

"I wanted to explain about last night."

"No," she said firmly, and crossed her arms over her chest, "I'd rather you didn't." He seemed to want to object, but she stopped him by raising her index finger. "Please, it doesn't matter."

"It matters to me."

She ignored that, because what was important to her at that moment was breaking off a potentially devastating relationship. "Actually I'm pleased you stopped by. I wanted to talk to you."

"I want to talk to you, too. About our date, I was thinking - "

"There isn't going to be any date."

"That's not what you said earlier."

Joy smiled, but it was a rather sad smile. "A woman can change her mind. Please, Ted, just leave it at that."

He shook his head. "You keep forgetting. I don't take 'no' for an answer."

"This time you'll have to, because I won't be seeing you again." She met his gaze, her eyes cool, her voice calm and controlled. "I mean it, Ted. Kindly stay out of my life."

Maureen couldn't believe she slept so late. Ten o'clock on a Saturday morning. It had been years. Aeons. Longer than she could remember since she'd rested this well.

She might have lazed in bed even longer if the phone hadn't rung. "Hello," she answered on the tail end of a heady yawn.

"Mom? Is that you? You don't sound right. Are you sick or something?"

"No, my darling daughter, what you're hearing is the sound of your mother being exquisitely lazy."

"Lazy?"

"I'm still in bed."

A shocked silence followed. "Bed! Mom, you never stay in bed this long."

"I know," Maureen said dreamily, and yawned again. "I feel wonderful."

"Good," Karen said excitedly, "because we've got a surprise for you."

"A surprise?" The "we've" part of the conversation didn't escape her notice.

"A really fabulous surprise. You're coming to get me, aren't you?"

"Of course."

"Don't come until after four, understand? That's really important."

"After four. Why?"

"That's the surprise part. I don't want to ruin it so don't ask me a lot of questions because I really want to tell you and if I do Paula will be real disappointed and Thom too." She lowered her voice substantially. "But don't eat a big lunch, okay?"

"All right, all right." Maureen struggled to a sitting position. "Now before we hang up, tell me, did you have a good time last night?"

"Oh, Mom, the Christmas lights were so pretty and some people were serving hot apple cider and singing Christmas carols. One neighborhood was even collecting canned goods for food baskets. Thom brought bags and bags of things, and this stuff wasn't from the back of his cupboard, either. Thom let Paula and me go to the grocery store and shop with a cart and everything." Her voice dropped once again. "We were real careful and chose nutritious food, too. No candy or junk food."

Maureen heard a whisper in